September 19, 2016 - OPC UA technologies are proving to be key in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 platforms. Hilscher’s netIOT family of connectivity products has been “OPC UA enabled” as a strategically vital way of supporting IIoT services and applications, allowing users to move towards digital manufacturing benefits such as predictive maintenance, data analytics, and better resource utilization.
This capability is available without having to replace or reprogram existing systems. The netIOT family includes netIOT Interface modules for integrating OPC UA into field devices. OPC UA Nano and OPC UA Micro profiles are implemented, enabling data of almost any type to be collected.
At the next level of the hierarchy, Hilscher offers netIOT Edge Gateways. OPC UA field data is communicated to a netIOT Edge Gateway via existing networks (including PROFINET and EtherNet/IP), over a separate TCP channel on the Real-Time Ethernet. This channel operates invisibly to the control processes and does not interfere with regular operations. No existing equipment or processes are changed or made redundant.
Hilscher’s netIOT Edge Gateway monitors field data over existing Real-Time Ethernet networks (shown as solid grey lines), such as EtherNet/IP and PROFINET, and communicates OPC UA data over a separate TCP channel (shown as dotted red lines) on the RTE network.
As an active device on the OPC UA side, the netIOT Gateway can actively talk to other OPC UA servers and devices supporting OPC UA. As slaves on the Industrial Ethernet network, netIOT Edge Gateways can communicate directly with PLCs to exchange data for remote or local processing. For remote analysis and feedback, Hilscher’s netIOT Edge Gateways can deliver data to the cloud using OPC UA.
